


bottom of the river

by raindropwaltz



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Gen, Multi, Southern Gothic AU, Witchcraft, everything smells like orange blossoms and is covered in spanish moss, that Real Witchy Shit plus sticky hot deep south drawl laced with monsters and a dash of reylux, these are all familiar but there's more coming
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-13 21:22:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15373599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raindropwaltz/pseuds/raindropwaltz
Summary: heard miss rey was talking to ghosts down by the creek again.that girl's got the devil in her eyes--or maybe in the palm of her hands.lord it's hot today._______oneshot collection full of moss and crickets and magic.





	1. honeysuckles

She was out in her garden first thing in the morning, nipping honeysuckles off their vines to have with breakfast.

 

The grass was cool and dewy, and the honeysuckle bushes that covered the old, cracking and cloudy glass panels of the greenhouse were fragrant as ever. She had a small basket full of them by now, and the morning air was getting steadily warmer when she headed back inside.

There was no air conditioning in her house, the old building hadn’t ever been outfitted with ventilation for it and she wasn’t about to spend all the money just to have people tearing up the house she’d gotten for cheap and called her home now. The large fans she had were enough, and for the long summers she had electric fans anyhow. They’d never seen much use up until recently.

One was rattling softly on the porch as she came up the steps and passed the large black dog resting languidly in front of it. She cast the dog an amused glance, but the animal didn’t look up at her or so much as acknowledge her presence, and she moved on through the screen door, letting it pop shut behind her and shaking her head fondly.

 

The old kitchen was still cool, the open windows letting in the smells wafting from outside: orange trees, honeysuckles and the smell of summer. Already there were birds chirping and a light breeze rolling in, jostling her homemade wind chimes every so often.

Rey smiled, leaning back against one of the old stone countertops and letting her kettle warm up for a morning cup of tea, pinching the calyx off of one of the honeysuckle blossoms and sucking the nectar out, setting the empty flower aside on the counter afterwards. She’d let it dry later, probably; maybe she’d mash the petals…she needed to check up on her stock cabinet soon.

 

Breakfast passed without issue. Tea, bacon and eggs and some toast with her own marmalade while she checked social media feeds and sent out a few text messages.

Poe and Finn posted three new pictures of Beebee in dog rainboots and a hooded poncho – the little corgi looked as happy as usual, his lolling tongue making Rey snort on her barstool at the counter.

Her kitchen table was covered in a mixture of potted succulents, old rags, and an assorted array of antique odds and ends; bells and door handles, cracked plates and old rusted tools, a jar of rusted nails, a burlap sack filled with something that made it lumpy and oblong amidst the mess.

She was perched on one of her two usable stools to eat, one knee tucked up to her chest while the other leg dangled free, her toes occasionally flexing against the seat of the stool. After a little while, she shut her laptop, stretched her legs and hopped off the stool, adjusting her cutoff overalls and tucking some stray hair behind her ear. Time to work on the tractor again.

 

The tractor was her pet project–an old rusted farm tractor she’d gotten dirt cheap (mostly because it didn’t work at the time) and had finally gotten working!

…Until then it stopped working again. So, she fixed it, got it up and running...

…Until it broke down, again, and lather, rinse, repeat – she’d fixed the old thing more times than she could count. The patch of land she lived on wasn’t enormous, and she didn’t really mow her grass that much, but the tractor was an easy way to get around to her neighbors’ places or to the convenience store from time to time.

 

It was a hot day, after a few hours Rey was sweating under the tractor and covered in rust and oil and dirt before she decided to take a break.

Honeysuckle lemonade under one of the live oaks, checking her phone again. Rey stretched her tanned, freckled legs and glanced around to find the black dog still stretched out on her porch – though now both it and the fan had moved back further from the sunlight into the shade near the wall. Rey snorted some to herself, chuckling into her lemonade and putting a zoomed-in picture of the dog on snapchat captioned: _‘What a priss’._

 

Mid-afternoon found Rey back under the old clunking tractor, sweating and cursing and smearing motor oil on her face when she tried to wipe at her sweat. All at once there was a loud, resounding bark near her head, and Rey jolted, swearing loudly and scrambling out from under the tractor, looking around and breathing hard before she saw a long-haired black tail disappear into the house. She made a face and got to her feet, chasing after the dog – but once she was inside she heard the doorbell ring, and her brow shot up. Oh.

She tugged a work glove off and opened her front door, pausing before deciding not to open the screen door, watching the visitor through the old, discolored screening.

 

'The Visitor' was an unfamiliar one: a man, probably in his thirties, gingery hair perfectly combed back out of his face, white button-down shirt perfectly ironed, a perfectly black blazer held over one arm. Everything about him seemed perfectly and impeccably pressed and clean and pristine – like one of those door-to-door Jesus salesmen. She wondered if he’d be trying to pitch the Book of Mormon or the Watchtower to her, but saw no reading materials in sight. Rey felt a strange sense of disquiet looking at him.

 

The ginger gentleman gave her a rather sharp sort of smile, eyeing her through the old screen door.

“Good afternoon, miss…?”

“Can I help you?” Rey raised an eyebrow, tucking her gloves in one of her pockets. She didn’t open the screen door. The ginger man chuckled softly, but his face never seemed to crinkle.

“I’m hoping you can. I saw you in town yesterday, with a rather magnificent dog. I’m afraid I was so intrigued I had to ask around after you – I was directed here. My name is Hux; I wanted to inquire about your dog.” Rey’s brow shot up.

“My _dog_?”

As if on cue, the large hound appeared at her side, seeming to slither in between her and the door, making her take a step back into the house. The dog looked mostly placid, but after a moment Rey could hear a deep, low growl coming from the black mass of fur. Her brow knit some and she licked her lips, eyeing Mr. Hux again. He looked just the same, completely unbothered by the dog’s growling.

“Yes–what a gorgeous creature. A borzoi, am I right?” Rey’s expression was unchanged, and she shrugged.

“No idea. You might be.” Mr. Hux’s smile looked pleased. His eyes did not.

“Where did you come across such a dog?” Another shrug from Rey, and she cocked her head some at him.

“Just wandered up to my house one day. I don’t think I’ll be much help if you’re looking for your own, Mr. Hux.” The ginger man laughed now, nodding a bit, smiling and completely mirthless.

“What a shame. Well, I’ll let you get back to your afternoon. It was still a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Rey. I hope we’ll run into one another again soon.” He gave her a brisk nod and turned to head down off of her porch. Rey shut the door and locked it behind her, frowning.

“The hell was with that guy…”

“We need to fortify the boundary of the property tonight,” came a baritone voice from the sitting room she was passing. Rey took a deep breath, looking troubled, scratching the back of her neck some.

“Didn’t like the look of him. Can it wait? Full moon’s not ‘til Wednesday…” A rather tall and rather naked man with a prominent nose and a head of shaggy black hair stood leaning against the doorway of the sitting room, knotting a tablecloth around his waist and giving Rey a stern frown.

“If we wait until Wednesday then tonight we need to put out alarms.” Rey looked up at him skeptically.

“Is this guy someone you know?” The man raked a hand through his hair and glanced off.

“It’s been a long time. I don’t know how he turned up here, but he’s…trouble.” Rey snorted some in spite of the severity of his tone.

“Okay, fine, tonight we’ll set up some alarms for possible ginger trouble.” The man’s lips formed a line, but Rey headed past him down the hall. “I guess I’ll pause work on the tractor for the day. What do we need? Bells, some St. Johns Wort…?” The tall man followed her down the hall, padding along down the old wood flooring.

“Nettles and nightshade. And an even number of aloe leaves.”

“Ugh, that’ll be the last of my nettle then…I’ll have to ride back out towards town to get more….”

“I’m pretty sure using them for this is worth the, what, fifteen minute drive?”

“Yeah, yeah…you turned off the fan, right?”

A pause.

“Kylo–”

“I’m going, I’m going…” The tall man grumbled something under his breath and stalked out to the back porch to tug the fan cord out of the outlet it was plugged into. “Ridiculous. It’s too damn hot down here without one of these – or some god damn air conditioning…”

Rey’s voice drifted out through the back door,

“Leave it out there! It makes too much noise when you run it at night!” He shot a dark look at the doorway and left the fan on the porch, huffing.

“ _You’re_ not the one with fur in ninety-degree heat…”

 

 

Rey was standing in the kitchen when he came back in, with a startled look on her face. He raised an eyebrow.

“What?” she took a slow breath, pursing her lips some.

“That man called me _Rey_ when he left.”

“Well that’s your name. I can’t believe you just gave it to him like that–” Rey shook her head, running a hand over her face and gazing out the kitchen window.

 

“That’s just it, though. I never told him my name.”


	2. seed

Too hot to work on the tractor in the afternoons now, unless it rained.

 

Summer rains came almost like clockwork every year--hot morning, rainy afternoon, hot evening. Rain meant staying in, cleaning, crafting, resting.  
Hurricane season meant storms from time to time, meant more rain some weeks. Rain meant stirred up energy--and sometimes that was good, sometimes that was bad.

“Somethin’ movin’ in the trees,” Rey’s voice drifted over the sound of the rain on the tin gutter and the roof of the porch, the wind chimes tinkling around them. She was singing a song that she was making up as she went, lying on her back on the old, creaking floorboards of the back porch, still damp from trying to get her laundry off the clothesline as the rain came. It had been too late by the time she’d gotten out there. Some of her old sheets were hanging soaked out in the downpour, breezes barely moving them.

“Somethin’ movin’ in the trees,” she sang quietly, almost sighing the words out, “Movin’ in the trees, sighin’ on the breeze, rollin’ in on a summer storm and bringin’ even strong men to their knees…” nearby, Kylo yawned from the old cushions on the wicker bench, flashing white teeth and shaking his fur out a bit before settling back in.

“Nothing’s out there right now.”

“I know,” she yawned back, stretching her legs out a little.

“This rain keeps up, though, who knows.”

“Storm coming,” Rey exhaled, shutting her eyes. “Hurricane’s breaking up on the coast but there’s storms coming.” Kylo made an aggravated noise.

“That’s going to be a pain in the ass.” She took a deep breath, feeling the old, cracking paint under her back, under her thighs, her arms, where her shorts and t-shirt weren’t covering.

“Things have been more active lately.”

  


A pause. Kylo shifted a little on the outdoor couch to cast a watchful--if currently lazy--glance her way.

“Mostly shadows,” she sighed, “Probably waiting for the storms to generate a little energy. Probably nothing to worry about.” The windchimes jingled, soft and gentle over the rain, and Rey smelled fresh dirt. Somewhere in the trees bordering her yard a crow cawed.

“The boundary’s still up.” Kylo finally offered, his voice a little lower than Rey expected. She tilted her head back against the porch floorboards to glance up at him, nodding some.

“Yeah. But if the storms are gonna be that powerful we oughta buff ‘em up a little before they hit.”

The boundary was up for a reason. The same reason Rey was suspecting they were seeing more activity flaring up recently. That man--’Hux’--had gotten onto her property that day and she had a strange suspicion that something about his presence had triggered some of the energy picking up around her house specifically. There hadn’t been another witch--wizard? Sorcerer?--around this area since she’d been here. Maybe it was just an energy buildup, but it was disturbing things that had been dormant around here, and that was going to create trouble.

  
  


She hadn’t been sleeping well.

He knew, because he knew when she woke, knew when she tossed and turned, knew when she struggled to fall asleep again. They slept naked on thin sheets in the summer, windows open and old, clicking ceiling fan lazily circling overhead.

Summer nights sounded like crickets and owl calls, breezes in the trees, windchimes jingling around the porch downstairs. Tonight was peaceful; clear skies, cool breezes rolling through. Rey’s lavender incense had burned out and was lingering around the room as she lay sleeping on her old queen mattress, slightly sunken in where she always slept, bare skin on sheets that were once patterned with bright yellow lemons and bright green leaves, now faded and too-soft and pilling slightly in some places from so much use.

Kylo sat against the wall near the foot of the bed, human and just as naked as she was, reclining with one of his favorite cushions, legs dangling off the mattress that seemed too small for him. She’d been sleeping peacefully for an hour or two now, and so he was letting himself doze a little too.

They’d worry about the wards tomorrow. His heavy-lidded eyes trailed over her sleeping body in the dim light, freckled skin and gentle edges, the soft rise and fall of her chest, the slight part of her lips as she slept. Lightly, he ran a large hand over one of her calves and down to her foot, feeling the pull from her to him intensify with the contact. Rey shifted slightly and he just watched her in silence, letting her sleep.

Windchimes. Owl call. Crickets. Rustling trees. Creak of old wood. Fan click. Fan click. Fan click. Nothing here, nothing here. His eyes drifted shut.

  
  
  


Rain again the next day. They woke up to it outside, making the room nice and cool if a little damp around them. At some point during the night Rey had migrated to curl up against Kylo’s side where he was leaned against the wall, her head resting next to his stomach on the cushion he was lying against. His hand was in her hair, draped over her shoulder lazy and protective. He didn’t remember her waking up, but he knew she had.

She stirred around mid-morning, shifting against him and groaning at the creak of her bones from the position she’d been in. She’d had a dream, a strange dream, an old dream.

The smell of rain in the room, the smell of Kylo right beside her. She felt his hand move against her scalp, rubbing the side of her head languidly, and she leaned into his touch, reaching up to take his wrist with a sleepy, loose grip, turning her head and kissing his fingertips.

“Mornin’,” she mumbled, and he yawned, stroking the side of her face with his thumb.

“Mm,” was all he responded, and Rey eased up on one arm to lean over his chest and kiss his collar, near the hollow of his throat. He watched her quietly, felt when she shifted her legs so she could straddle his waist, felt the twitch in his cock as she settled against him.

Grey light cast shadows in the corner of the room Rey’s bed was nestled, and a breeze rolled in through the window screens, making Rey shiver slightly over Kylo. His hand had slid to rest on her hip when she sat up again, gazing down at him with eyes still hazy from sleep and shifting until she was able to lift her hips slightly and feel his already-hard cock slide between her legs, the ridge of it rubbing against her clit and making her suck her lip between her teeth a little, groaning softly.

“Ohh…” she murmured, propping herself up on one hand and slowly rolling her hips against him, leaning back a little so they could both see his cock starting to leak against his stomach, velvety skin going slick from his own arousal and hers as she lazily rocked against him.

“I don’t know what you were dreaming about, but I can wait on breakfast for this,” Kylo rumbled at her playfully, yawning a little and running his hand up the back of her thigh affectionately. Rey’s back arched and she let out a stuttered whine, rubbing her clit against the head of his cock and shivering, hand balling into the bedsheets.

“Don’t know,” she moaned, “Want you inside, though.” He nodded, giving her backside a little tap to get her to lift her hips for him.

“Lean up,” he murmured, hand cupping her ass while he shifted a little and watched, mesmerized, as her cunt trailed little threads of their shared arousal when she lifted away from his cock. “Look at you--you’re soaked already…” He shook his head fondly and rubbed his hand over her ass as she reached down to guide him up to her dripping entrance.

“I told you I wanted this,” she grumbled, groaning as she eased down enough to take the head of him into her, “Ohhh, I don’t know why but--mmmm I don’t care…” He made a pleased sound and ran a hand up over the plane of her stomach, resting his palm on her ribs and teasing large, long fingers over one of her stiff, dusty pink nipples. Rey coaxed him into her at an excruciating pace, rocking her hips against him and begging for him to pump up deeper and deeper into her burning and hungry cunt with each passing moment.

“Deeper, fuck, Kylo I need you--” she whimpered, and he rubbed her thighs gently, shaking his head and keeping her moving at the same pace.

“Go slow, little witch,” he murmured softly, rolling his hips up deliberately slow, “Too early in the day to hurt you like this…”

She was still relaxed from sleep and both of them were slicked up enough that there wasn’t too much resistance; by the time she’d seated herself on his thighs she felt full to bursting and her thighs quivered around his hips from it as she let herself adjust.

 

She was breathing shallow, her little breasts heaving slightly with the effort. Kylo’s hand slid down her torso again to rest over the span of skin below her bellybutton almost reverently, watching her jolt and shiver with each little movement the two of them made.

“Is this what you wanted?” he purred, palm sliding lower, pressing into her skin just slightly as his thumb found her clit and began to rub lazy circles around it. He smiled, feeling her jerk at the sensation of it while his cock was buried inside of her. Rey nodded quickly, toes curling against the sheets, hands propping herself up as she leaned back over his legs.

“Nnh--ye-yes, oh fuck I wanted this…” she gasped out, “Wanted to feel this _full_ \--” his fingers spread over her skin and she swore she felt his cock in her stomach, but the slightest little rock of his hips and they could both see even the slightest movement under her skin. Rey shuddered, hips bucking against him and sending a jolt through her whole body because god _damn_ he was deep and big enough that at this angle, they could see where he’d buried himself in her much smaller body.

A few shallow thrusts had Rey grasping at the sheets and erratically grinding her hips down on him, whining and shaking when he managed to keep rutting right up against that sweet spot inside her.

“Ky-Kylo--right there, right there--” She gasped almost incoherently, her legs trembling around his hips, her pussy clenching and quivering around his cock. He lurched forward suddenly and Rey cried out when the shift in angle and depth had him ramming into something _painful_ and making her shake in his arms--he pinned her to the mattress and drug one of her legs around his waist, pulling her hips up off the bed as he fucked her, leaning in to press his mouth to her neck and biting into the skin below her jaw.

 

Rey felt something stirring in her, something deep and magic that she didn’t quite understand, but knew had something to do with this urge for him to fuck her silly she’d woken up with. Kylo was keeping a human appearance well enough right now but when he lifted his head to meet her gaze his eyes were glowing red, those ancient sigils she didn’t recognize glittering back at her in his irises.

“Rey,” he growled, his voice ancient and powerful and deep, “My Rey.” Oh yeah, there was something magical at work here--but at the moment, she couldn’t be assed to figure out what. Still--

“Don’t--” she gasped out hurriedly, “Don’t you--you _dare_ transform--” he was thrusting into her at a punishing rate, and she felt his hands on her arm and her waist start to shudder and shift. “Want you like this,” she groaned, grinding her cunt onto him, and he leaned in close to her face, slamming into her hard enough to make her gasp, her little tits jiggling under him with each thrust.

“Does my true face not _please_ you anymore, witch?” He sounded like he knew the answer, and Rey writhed under his grasp.

“Just stay like this--stay like this--” she groaned, “I give the command--you will keep this form until you make me come,” her eyes lit up, that strange swimming green-gold they did when she did heavy magic, when she gave him commands. She gazed up at him, watching the mild irritation on his face, but he didn’t argue and she was breathing hard but still managed to smirk. “Now satisfy your witch.”

 

For someone who had just gotten done saying it was too early in the day to hurt her, Kylo had certainly dropped all pretense of gentleness. His hands had both taken her hips and his grip was bruising, ramming her onto his cock hard enough to draw tears to her eyes--but as she grasped for purchase at the sheets she only begged him for more.

One of his hands went between her legs and found her clit again, and Rey jolted against him, clenching around his cock and squealing at the sudden friction.

“Ky-Kylo--Kylo--Kylo- _oooh fuck_ \--!” she sobbed, her whole body tensing when his fingers left her clit to press the heel of his palm down on that perfect, perfect spot, so that it felt like he was ramming right into it with each thrust.  


She came undone, spasming around him and letting out a little shriek as she climaxed, head thrashing against her mattress before her body went delightfully limp--and he took another moment or two, burying himself in her pussy and grinding against her hips in short, shallow thrusts as Rey watched languidly.

“Rey,” he grunted, gritting his teeth, and she felt his fingers press hard enough into her ass to leave marks.

“Do it,” she murmured blissfully, biting at her lip in strange anticipation, “Do it, I want to feel you come inside…” And when he did, her eyes rolled and her breath left her lungs at the feeling of it--like her stomach was going to expand, like she was too full, and she groaned and let a shivery hand come to rest on her belly between them.

 

He settled next to her on the sheets again, breathing hard, and Rey stopped him when he started to slide back out of her. Frustratingly, now he didn’t even particularly _want_ to shapeshift anymore.

“Not yet,” she shook her head, her voice almost dreamy, “Ohhh, not yet…” He raised an eyebrow at her, shifting them both to be at least a little more comfortable while she let all of this continue. He settled a bit more on his side, tucking her leg over his hip and curling up around her, stroking a bit of hair out of her face.

“Rey,” he ventured after a moment, watching her blissful expression, “Are you all right?” She nodded, nestling herself against his chest, shivering a little when she felt things shift.

“Mm, yes fine…” His brow knit slightly at this but he said nothing, curling an arm under her back so he could tuck her against him.

“Don’t suppose we’re getting up yet, then.”

“Not yet…” He sighed, putting off thoughts of warm food until later.

  
  
  


It rained through the morning and afternoon. Eventually Rey had gotten up and rinsed off and made them breakfast before taking a little while to do inventory in her pantry, making a list of things she needed to get in town.

“We’ll go to the farmers market when it’s not raining so hard,” she remarked idly, padding around the house in a loose old green tank top and panties, lazy since she didn’t have plans. Kylo was migrating with her whenever she went to a different room only to flop down again on the nearest sofa or chair and nap while she went about her business.

 

Around one in the afternoon she was in the greenhouse listening to the rain on the glass panels and a lo-fi station she had playing on her phone, watercolor painting some of the new growth in her potted plum tree saplings when Kylo yawned all of the sudden.

“Visitor,” he drawled lazily, and Rey glanced over at him curiously.

“In this weather? Who?” He only shrugged.

“Human. Female. Don’t know names.” Rey thought about this for a moment before shrugging as well.

“Ugh, that means I gotta put pants on,” And she sighed, setting her paintbrush down to jog through the rain back into her house to do just that.  


 

The visitor ended up being a somewhat familiar face. When the knock came, her front door opened to a young woman in heels and tight blue jeans shaking her umbrella out a bit. Rey gave her a little wave when she opened the door, nodding at her through the screen.

“Can I help you?” the girl looked a little startled but straightened herself some, flashing Rey a bright if somewhat nervous smile in a full face of makeup under pretty blonde and highlighted hair.

“Hi there--I hope I’m at the right house, you’re--you’re Rey, right? You do the um,” she gestured slightly, “The ‘alternative remedies’?” which was code for ‘Someone told me you were a witch and I’m too superstitious to say it out loud’. She looked overall a bit jumpy, glancing around some as if expecting neighbors to be watching her, even if Rey’s house was situated amidst a grove of trees.

“That sounds like me,” Rey snorted, nodding and opening the screen door. “Come on in, we can talk inside.” The woman nodded gratefully, carefully settling her umbrella in the old porcelain holder Rey had inside the front doorway.

She led the other woman into the front sitting room, where she usually handled this sort of thing. It was the least cluttered of her rooms; she called it her ‘Professional Room’ because it at least made people a bit less on edge to sit and talk when they weren’t surrounded by odds and ends and mess.

The front room was furnished in antiques, two polished wood settees and an armchair in aged jade green upholstery, a persian rug in deep red with intricate floral patterning around the center at their feet. The curtains stayed drawn in this room, but there was an antique art nouveau lamp in green enameled bronze with a beaded and embroidered violet lampshade that provided enough light for the time being. Rey had a bookcase on one wall that was filled with old classics and notebooks as well as a few knicknacks--pinned butterflies in a frame-case, a large amethyst geode she was using as a book end on one shelf, a bust of a lovely woman in white marble.

They were kitschy things, deliberately placed to make things seem just out-of-the-ordinary enough that people would know she was ‘strange’ but not enough to make them uncomfortable.

 

“You’re Leeandra from up at the Red Lobster, right?” Rey asked, motioning for her to make herself comfortable. Rey knew her from the few times she’d gone out with some friends; not well enough to really be on public speaking terms, but enough that she knew her name. Leeandra nodded, tucking a white-blonde highlighted lock of hair behind her ear.

“Oh! You came in a few weeks ago for somebody’s birthday, right?” She smiled, flashing pearly-white teeth at her. Rey nodded.

“I did. What brought you out here in the rain?” she cocked her head slightly, and the other girl straightened again, looking down a bit and speaking as if she’d rehearsed this.

“Well...my friend Hailey told me that you lived out here, because her brother’s wife came up here when she needed something for her time-of-the-month, and she said you were definitely the one I should come to--” Rey listened patiently, used to the way some people rambled when they were worried about stating things plainly or sounding too direct.

“What can I do for you, Leeandra?” She asked, and the other girl took a little breath, looking up at Rey helplessly.

“I want a baby,” she breathed imploringly, “We’ve been talking about it for months and months, and my boyfriend works so much that we always seem to miss our ‘special window’, and I’m just _so_ ready to be a momma,” she sniffed a little, swallowing and blinking in that ladylike way the southern girls did to keep themselves from tearing up enough to have to wipe at their eyes and risk smudging their makeup while still keeping politely quiet.

Rey nodded a little, letting out a quiet exhale.

“Well that’s not a weird request--you looked so jittery coming in here I thought you were fixin’ to ask me to raise your dead chihuahua or somethin’ like that.” Leeandra looked a bit pale at this, gawking at her some.

“You could _do_ that?” She asked in a hushed tone, and Rey snorted.

“Necromancy is just such a _nasty_ business,” she said in that teasing tone she used to make people think she was completely joking about the ‘magic thing’. Leeandra laughed as Rey figured she would, nodding.

“You can help me, can’t you?” She sounded pleading, “You don’t know how much I want my own little baby,” she sighed dreamily, “I wanna start my own family, and my mama’s always wanted to be a grandma…and lately I’ve just _known_ it’s the right time!” The blonde bit her lip a little from the inside, minding her lipstick. "I'm a Christian, and I know God says when it's time then it's time, but I think I can give him a little helping hand--I'm just at the end of my rope, and I've tried everything, and I didn't know where else to come..."

Rey nodded, sighing as well and settling in.

“I’ll see what I can do; you’re gonna have to tell me a little more about your situation…”

  
  


Rey saw Leeandra out when she left, with a list of information and a box of loose tea Rey had mixed together for her. The young witch sighed, locking the door behind herself as she headed back inside again, stretching some. Kylo trotted up to her from down the hallway, stretching out his long canine body and yawning.

“What was all that about?” He followed her back through the house to the kitchen, where she shucked off the jean shorts she’d put on for her company.

“Girl in town,” she yawned, “Another one looking for somethin’ to help her get knocked up." Kylo just nodded some as Rey dug around in the refrigerator and then the freezer, and came back empty handed. “You wanna go up to Dairy Queen? I feel like a milkshake…”

  
  


It wasn’t raining when they headed into town; the sun was trying to peek through the clouds by then. Kylo was perched on the back of Rey’s old motorbike, long ears flapping a bit as they headed down the old quiet stretch of highway towards the town proper.

They were a well-known sight; whether on her old tractor or her motorbike, Rey driving and her big black dog sat behind her were something the town was used to seeing. They parked outside the old Dairy Queen and Rey had gotten food for the both of them, perching on one of the outdoor tables with a burger and a milkshake while Kylo had a sundae cup of ice cream to lick at.

People were generally standoffish around Kylo; he was big, and black, and looked a bit intimidating, really, but sometimes children would come up to pet him and Rey would get to snicker a little to herself while he tolerated their little grabby hands and shouting in his ears. The little three year old boy who was smacking him in the forehead while cackling with delighted laughter and yelling something that sounded like either ‘doggy’ or ‘ducky’, for instance, was making Rey snort with laughter while Kylo was looking at her accusingly.

“Oh you love the attention,” she snickered when they were alone again, to which he made a derisive noise. “He was cute,” Rey sighed then, though, gazing after the toddler and his mother. Kylo glanced from the retreating mother to Rey, but said nothing.

They were getting ready to leave when suddenly both Rey and Kylo sensed something at once--Rey’s brow shot up and Kylo’s ears went back, eyes scanning the parking lot until he saw what he was looking for.

 

They appeared human, to any unsuspecting mortals, but to a witch and her demonic companion, the disguise did not hold.

They appeared to be a nymph of some kind, possibly, but they were certainly fae. Skin brown as fresh earth seemed to glimmer gold where the peeking sunlight caught, and a round smiling face held almond-shaped eyes that were pupil-less and all deep green, glowing bright. They were all curves and supple skin, in a sundress baring almost a scandalous amount of flesh, but for their size they moved on tiny feet with a grace that seemed lighter than air. Rey watched, transfixed, as they approached, heading directly for she and Kylo.

“Oh fuck,” Rey breathed, feeling her skin prickling and a sensation not unlike the one she’d felt that morning in bed settling over her.

“Ooh, it’s you!” The fae cooed, delighted and flashing an almost startlingly pink tongue as they stopped in front of Rey, but Kylo had placed himself between the two of them and the fae moved no closer. Rey raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, it’s me,” she offered, wary of the fae’s glee.

“I’ve been wondering where all that _delicious_ energy was coming from,” the fae continued, looking Rey over as if eyeing her for a meal, “I knew it couldn’t just be coming from...mmm…” they shut their glowing green eyes and sniffed the air some, “No, this is _my_ kind of energy, but ooh you’re just one sweet half, little baby…” Rey’s brow knit.

“You’ve been in town a few days, huh?”

“You got it, little witch girl! I can’t _resist_ sticky summers like this, it’s _perfect_ for making people want each other.” Rey swallowed a little at this, fighting down the weird arousal she was feeling, knowing it was because of the creature talking to her now. A fertility entity, of course it would be.

“That’s all fine’n dandy but why are you _here_?” She questioned, and the fae smirked at her, leaning in close to her face.

“Because I’m feeling some _ripe_ energy from the witches here.” Rey blinked a little. ‘Witches’--she was the only one in town, unless…

“I can’t have you foolin’ around town, you’re gonna cause problems,” she frowned at the fae, “I’ve already had three girls this week asking for me to help ‘em get babies, and if it’s just because of you…”

“Oh honey it’s _not_ ! Wanting babies is just _human nature_ \--all I do is bring all those fun urges to the surface!” the fae sounded innocent enough saying this but Rey’s frown deepened.

“What can I do to get you to move on along?” There was always something with the fae, they wanted something, and if she could give an offering then she would.

 

 

“You know what we want,” the fae gave Rey a knowing look, “I’ll need a tribute.”

“What can I offer?”

“I want that energy I’ve been feeling,” The fae licked their lips, “I want sex magic--it’s better than mead, you know; real, proper sex magic.” Rey shrugged.

“Fine.” The fae’s face lit up.

“You go find that other witch in town and--”

“ _No._ ” Kylo spoke up unexpectedly, suddenly on his feet, baring his teeth at the fae, who just looked bored.

“Rude little puppy,” they sighed, and Kylo growled. Rey’s mouth formed a line.

“There is no other witch in town,” she countered, but the fae gave her an interested look.

“Oh? You don’t know, then?”

“Don’t know what?”

“ _He’s_ here,” they exclaimed, green eyes flashing excitedly, “You had to know that, if I could feel it all the way from where I was...I haven’t felt this in _decades,_ you and him…” Rey’s brow knit again.

“What do you mean?” Kylo nudged at her legs.

“Rey let’s go.” Rey ignored him, though, watching the fae’s smiling face.

“You should find him,” they encouraged, looking delighted, their skin glittering gold in places that lit up from under the surface, “I know you’ll feel _exactly_ what I do--and mmm, I’ll get my tribute and then I can be on my way! Simple as that.” Rey took a breath, contemplating this.

 

 

“You want me to go find this other witch and fuck him so you can feed on the energy generated from it, and after I do this once you’ll leave.” she put it in plain terms, making sure she was straightforward so there wasn’t room for misunderstandings or loopholes. “I have sex with this other witch once, and you leave.” the fae shrugged. Kylo made a frustrated noise.

"Rey don't--"

“If it’s good enough,” the fae sighed.

“No,” Rey folded her arms, “If I do this it’ll be good enough and you’ll go.” The fae eyed her a moment, and finally conceded.

“Fine.”

“I want a vow.” Rey tilted her chin up slightly and Kylo gave her a disbelieving look.

“Rey, don’t you fucking dare--”

“Hush up little pup,” the fae put a hand out towards his snout, not bothering to look at him. “You have a vow, little witch baby. You give me this tribute, and I will leave this town.” Rey nodded.

“How.” She took a breath, steadying herself as she felt the gravity of the agreement sinking in.

 

The fae produced something glittering in her hand, and held it out to Rey. It was...a seed, from the look of it. Like a glass seed, hollow and clear. Rey held it up to the light and the fae nodded.

“You keep that nearby, and afterwards you bury it in the ground at the town’s southernmost boundary, and that’s it.” Rey held the little seed in her palm and nodded finally.

“You have a deal.” The fae laughed delightedly, leaning in and kissing her cheek. Their lips were warm as sunshine and made Rey shiver, her skin flooding with warmth at the small touch.

“I’m looking forward to it, little witch!”


End file.
